Inhumans has received largely negative reviews ahead of its premiere on TV, to the point that Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn doubts that this franchise can be saved. The show currently has a 7% Rotten Tomatoes score with an average rating of 4.11/10. That is the lowest average score that’s been received by a Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series yet, even passing the much-derided first season of Iron Fist.
Screen Rant’s own Inhumans premiere review expressed disappointment in the show’s first episode, saying:
The premiere of Marvel’s Inhumans TV series is beset with problems that range from its uninspired production values and overwhelmingly bland color palette to its unimaginative plot of misunderstood people with extraordinary powers being pursued by adversaries both human and, well, inhuman
Related: What Went Wrong With Inhumans?
Is there any hope left for the Inhumans TV series on the whole? Gunn, who thus far has directed MCU films — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Vol 2. — and not TV shows, seems wary of the proposition. In a Facebook Q&A, Gunn had this to say:
It does not look like there is much saving left for the Inhumans.
This does not bode well for Inhumans. The unanimously negative reviews will surely discourage people from tuning in when the first episode premieres on ABC, especially considering the obscure nature of these characters. The characters in Inhumans, while very familiar among comic book enthusiasts, lack any form of mainstream appeal. But perhaps that shouldn’t be an excuse in this day and age. After all, Gunn himself took a less than unknown property and turned it into one of the most profitable comic book movie franchises of all time.
To add insult to injury, it looks like a lot of people are more than ready to write this TV series off. Yesterday, rumours were circling the internet that ABC has already canceled Inhumans even before the first episode aired on TV. This story broke after an Inhumans poster with the copy “Complete Series, September 29” circulated. Naturally, this caused many to jump to conclusions. While these are just rumours and Inhumans is still slated to air on ABC according to plan, rumours may soon turn to reality if the series fails to garner a large enough viewership.
Inhumans stars Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Iwan Rheon as Maximus, Mike Moh as Triton, Ken Leung as Karnak, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal and Sonya Balmores, among others. This series is created by Scott Buck – who, as it were, was also the creator and showrunner of Iron Fist season one.
NEXT: What Inhumans Does Right (& What It Does Wrong)
Inhumas premieres Friday, September 29th on ABC.
